(Archive) Rorgan and the Wolf\'s Fleece Part XV

October 21, 1999

*Note - log submitted by Rorgan*

Healer\'s Tent

The atmosphere within the light walled tent is surprisingly cozy. Neatly made cots smothered in blankets and bedding line one wall with enough space in between to offer easy access to their occupants. A small, sturdy looking table with a few camp chairs surrounding it is against the other, with a large chest to one side. Strewn across the table, in an oddly neat display of disarray are bandages of many sizes, and several healing concoctions in various states of preparation. A small fire crackles soothingly in the cleared center of the floor, a pot of water aboil constantly over it. To the rear of the structure, a hanging of blankets sections off a small room behind with some privacy, and overall, the tang of herbs is in the air.

leads Outside

Contents:

Nikala

Tivadar

Kadareth

Shandor

Rorgan

Amrindor

[Tivadar(#29450)] A young rider sits up in his cot, almost all of his body wraped in bandages and rags. Talking to one of the healers whom chuckles and smiles every now and then he sends her to go get him a cup of tea. Tivadar turning his head looks about the tent of wounded men, shaking his head at all those that were just fine before the attack yesterday he says and spots Kadareth still unconcious on his cot. With a slight sigh he continues scanning the tent then his eyes falling on a women in one at the other end, confused he stares at her for only a few seconds as not to draw attention to himself then decides to speak, clearing his throat as to get his voice as clear as possible throughout the pain his body is in he looks at here again, \"Greetings m\'lady, if I may ask from where do ye hail? I havn\'t seen you here in the camp before.\"

Nikala moves slowly, every twitch of a muscle accompanied by a twinge of pain. She pushes herself up to a sitting position, grimacing as she looks down at herself and realizes what a mess she might be. She ignores the man\'s question for a long time, too occupied with herself. Then she raises her grey eyes and speaks softly, \"From the wilderness.\" She goes back to examining her wounds.

Tivadar nods to the women as the healess Jenna brings him his cup of tea, smiling to her he sips it quietly and turns his head again to watch the women as she moves in pain and tries to offer a slight smile as she raises her eyes to meet his. Positioning himself though not without pain in the attempt to better face to the women he nods as she speaks he coughs quietly and speaks again, \"Ah the wilderness not the smartest place to be at this time, and I will leave you to your wounds as it seems to hurt you to move and speak but not without introducing myself, My name is Tivadar a Rider of the East-mark, Scout and Messanger of Theoden king and of Rohan.\"

Nikala seems almost bewildered, not expecting to have woken up in the land of the living. She feels her legs, making sure both are firmly attached, then exhales slowly. \"How did I survive?\" she asks herself, for the moment forgetting she is in the prescence of others. She she refocuses on Tivadar, struggling to keep her attention on him, \"Y-yes...that is why I came here. Safety.\" The man\'s introduction goes over her head, most of what he says meaning nothing to her. She offers no introduction in return, instead turning her grey gaze to the tent itself. She peers about, trying to get her bearings and see who else is here.

Tivadar decides it best to leave the women at not speaking right now since her attention seems to be fading and she is more confused then anything else. Turning quickly to Jessa he has her go over to the women to see if there is anything that is needed while he himself watches the women carefully but for some reason can\'t stop from asking a question he speaks, \"M\'lady if I may ask and if you bid it this will be the last thing I say, What happened if you can remember..\"

Nikala closes her eyes as a dizzy spell hits her. They remain tightly shut as she brings her good hand to her temple. When she speaks again, it is only to croak out, \"Water...\" The healess dutifully brings her some, and she drinks greedily with the girl\'s help, coughing occasionally. Coming out of her fog, she answers Tivadar\'s question in a roundabout way, \"Where am I?\" Apparently she doesn\'t remember much of anything.

Tivadar watching the Healess get the water and assist the women he sits back almost feeling sorry for her, then surprised by the question of where she is he speaks, \"M\'lady you are in a Rohirrim and Gondorian camp, i\'m still more confused on how you got here and what happened to you but that can wait for later i\'m sure.\" he then grabs his tea and sits back.

\"What in the world was a woman doing where she could get that hurt?\" Rorgan asks himself, mostly, a well-worn leather tome propped upon his lap. He turns the page and shrugs, returning to his reading, the momentary distraction seemingly forgotten. It has been thus during the daylight hours, at least, and usually well into the night, for as long as anyone that is now in the Healer\'s Tent has been here, for Rorgan now holds the rather distasteful distinction of having been here the longest.

Nikala is obvlivious to the conversation around her. And the fact that she is fast becoming a center of attention, what she least wanted to happen. \"The camp?\" she murmrs. Then some of her memory comes back, \"The camp. The camp I came to...\" She pauses, stumbling over her thoughts for a moment. With effort, she pieces together what she wants to say, \"I am still in the camp. But...we were being overrun. How did I..how did anyone survive?\" She looks to both men for answers.

[Amrindor(#8859)] The tent flap opens slightly and into the sanctum of the healing hall a tall, but unsoldier-like man enters. The stranger, Amrindor, the guide to this land it is, a man missing for more than a fortnight. Standing at the edge of the temporary structure he seems quite out of place with a seemingly clean appearance and not a single sign of wounds upon him. His face, however, shows a different picture and he seems quite troubled. Stepping only slightly away from the door he looks with a hurried glance from bed to bed as if searching for someone, or counting the numbers of wounded.

[Aearwen(#7229)] Loud grunts and shouts are heard in the healers tent as three male healers and two female healers struggle to get a gravely ill man back into bed. Lady Aearwen is one of the healers working to get the deliousional man tied to his bed so as to not further damage his already septic wounds. Struggling to catch her breath, Aearwen wipes the sweat from her brow on the sleeve of her dress. Turning to those closest she says, \"Everyone back to bed, the show is over.\"

Tivadar at first takes little notice to the man whom walks into the tent and listens to the women speak and then answers, \"I\'m sorry m\'lady I can\'t answer all those questions... I was horrible wounded in the battle and was carried back here with noone telling me how exactly it turned out all I know is that were still here and not dead.\" with that he turns to the man whom walked in and nods as his eyes pass over his cot, then scanning more of the tent he smiles as he sees the lady Aearwen and chuckles as the healess\'s almost drop the cot he speaks to her, \"Hail m\'lady how are you this day?\" though even as he speaks his eyes slowly fall back onto the wounded women.

The answer, it seems, floats from across the room, from the man who was once the embodiment of the alliance of which he speaks, \"The Oath of Eorl and the Stonelendings that protect it carried the day, m\'lady,\" intones the greying-blonde Rorgan.

Nikala has no idea who Rorgan is talking about, but she can grasp at his meaning. She nods, a look of vague understanding in her tired eyes. Then she eases herself back down on her cot and closes her eyes again.

[Amrindor(#8859)] Amrindor\'s wandering eyes come at last to Rorgan\'s position. Halting hesitantly the man seems on the verge of turning and rushing straight out of the tent, but instead he makes to the man\'s bed, still saying nothing.

As he walks across the tent, however, he catches sight of a wounded Nikala out of the corner of his eye. Halting for a moment, the man seems torn, but finally he continues to Rorgan, the same troubled look still on his face.

The interruption is now complete, and Rorgan closes the book, carefully inserting a fat downy feather into the page as a bookmark. He looks up at the \'tracker\' and tilts his head to the side. \"What troubles you, Am.. Amrindor?\"

But before the man can reply, Rorgan clears his throat and speaks a bit more loudly and clearly, \"I owe you an apology, good sir. For misplacing my trust in other than you and your map. It was you who drew the map, was it not?\"

[Aearwen(#7229)] Dropping to a nearby chair, Aearwen catches her breath and listens to the conversation of those awake and well enough to speak. Her blue eyes pay close attention to Nikala as the concern for the wounded woman shows clearly on her face. Turning in surprise as she notices Amrindor in the healers tent, she starts to speak and the settles back in her chair and grins as Rorgan apologizes to the man. Cutting twinkling eyes to Rorgan, she tries to get his attention but fails.

[Amrindor(#8859)] \"Aye. It was my map and my hardships that found these beasts.\" Begins Amrindor with a stern, serious tone. \"You would have done well to follow it straight to where the lair was marked instead of sending out your scouts and wasting valuable time.\" He turns away and steps to an empty bed next to Rorgans, and in doing so he takes another, lengthy look towards Nikala\'s position, seemingly trying to determine how much she is wounded. Turning around once more and sitting down, the traveller looks solemnly towards the tailor. \"But I am not here to counsel you.. what\'s done is done. I am more interested now in how the fight is going. I ran quickly north to my own people these past few days, but I am returned until this is finished. And my sword is eager for warg blood.\"

\"There are bigger problems than the Wargs afoot. One of my men fought a Goblin nigh onto a fortnight ago, a huge goblin from my man\'s tale of him, that cried out not for the Eye, but for the Demon. It seems to me that our old enemies have found out our mission, and though we have taken a great toll on the Wargs, the Goblins have proven they know where our camp is by making an assault.\" Rorgan says, casting his eyes toward his still-hidden leg.

With a brief nod to return himself to the conversation he continues, \"Though I am not the camp commander, or as I have been reminded, anything more than a civilian observer and advisor, I believe that the time has come for us to at least move the camp, and possibly set a trap for the Goblins -- to drive them back long enough that we can finish what we\'ve started here.\"

[Nikala(#23645)] Rorgan\'s words carry to Nikala. A single word filters through to her clouded mind, \'goblin,\' and with that, she gasps a painful gasp and eyes flutter open. Panicking for a moment, she cries, \"Goblins..orcs..everywhere. I could not stop the...\" Nikala blinks. Then realizes where she is and flushes with embarassment. Mortified, the woman calms herself, wishing not to be a disturbance.

Not waiting for a reply, Rorgan muses, almost to himself, \"We should send to Dunlostir for barrels of lamp oil and roll the burning casks into the bloody cave and be done with it.\" He shakes his head, muttering still, \"If it hadn\'t been for that innane quest I might have thought of it sooner.\"

Amrindor listens intently and seems unphased at the mention of orcs. He is indeed already troubled by the situation and is not surprised by any further poor developments. It is Nikala\'s ravings which stir him from his seat by Rorgan. Standing and moving quickly towards her bedside he makes a quick assessment of her wounds and then looks to the nearest healer, \"Who is this? She does not look like the Rohirrim and Gondorians. What was she doing fighting the wargs... and the goblins, too, for that matter.\"

Nikala now is totally confused. Her eyes seize on Amrindor and for a moment, there is a flicker of recognition. She even opens her mouth and begins to say something, but then she falters. She stares up at Amrindor, then collecting her composure, she whispers, \"Do not worry about me. I will heal. I just need rest. Rest.\" She shifts about under her covers, trying to find a way to sleep that won\'t aggravate her wounds.

[<#8859>] The tall stranger Amrindor looks down towards Nikala with a compliant nod. \"... .... ... ... ... .... ... ... ... ... you. It ... ... ... dangerous ... ... ... you .... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... to ... ... ... ... play ... ... ... then ... .... ... ... that ... will ... ... ... ... ... ... help ... ... ... ... ...... they ... ... ... a ... ....\" He bends down closer to the woman\'s ear as he whispers his hurried sentances. When finished he waits a quick moment for a response from the woman, and then looks back to Rorgan suspiciously.

Nikala makes no motion for a while, then her lips move and there is a faint whisper from her. It sounds vaguely like, \"I will do what I can.\" Then she drifts off into a shallow sleep.

Another page is turned, perhaps exposing the cover for a brief moment, \'The Tower of Guard\' is embossed there, but Rorgan seems unaware of the suspicious glance and goes on reading. If he is even making the most offhand attempt to listen to what the pair converses about, he gives no outward sign.

[Amrindor(#8859)] Amrindor steps now away from Nikala\'s bed and back towards Rorgan. \"Where are your men... the soldiers. Is there any fighting going on right now?\"

\"Fighting? Not that I am aware of. There\'s bound to be more soon enough, though.\" Rorgan shrugs, \"But if it\'s trouble you\'re looking for, perhaps I could suggest where you might find some, or at least a way to find some.\"

[Amrindor(#8859)] \"No, not trouble...\" begins Amrindor. \"I\'d like to help out while I\'m still here. Are there any scouting parties or search parties about?\" His grey eyes wander towards the book Rorgan carries only in passing, \"If I may be so bold as to ask... what is that you are reading from? Something to help with our current situation, I would assume?\"

A small grin crosses Rorgan\'s features, \"Not really.\" He once again places the book upon his lap. \"The bloody scholars wouldn\'t allow me to take any of the books that had even a scrap of lore about Wargs in them. It\'s a meagre substitute. Something of an historical atlas of Minas Tirith.\" He shrugs, \"As far as scouting parties, that\'d be Lieutenant Galdorim\'s province. I do know that the commander of my Silver Guard is out on patrol at the moment, attempting to locate the Goblin camp, if they have one, or failing that, to find the tunnel that spewed them forth when we made our assault on the lair.\"

Amrindor nods very plainly, \"I see. Very interesting. I will take my leave of you, then, good sir, and do a bit of exploring. There is much still to be done... as you know.\" With a polite gesture, seemingly like a bow between those of mutual rank, he turns and heads for the entrance to the tent without another look at the wounded.

\"Good night, m\'lord,\" Rorgan replies to the man\'s back, once again picking up his book.